History of the Organizational Behavior Field

Discuss the history of the Organizational Behavior field with four contributing disciplines within the Organizational Behavior field, which consist of Psychology, Social Psychology, Sociology, and Anthropology.

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1. Discuss the history of the Organizational Behavior field with four contributing disciplines within the Organizational Behavior field, which consist of Psychology, Social Psychology, Sociology, and Anthropology.

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There are four contributing disciplines within the Organizational Behavior field, which consist of Psychology, Social Psychology, Sociology, and Anthropology illustrated in the following definition, historical overview and current focus of study.

Definition

Organizational Behavior (OB) is the study and application of knowledge about how people, individuals, (Psychology) and groups (Social Psychology) act in organizations (Sociology and Anthropology). It does this by taking a system approach. That is, it interprets people-organization relationships in terms of the whole person, (psychology) whole group, whole organization, (social psychology) and whole social system (sociology). Its purpose is to build better relationships by achieving human objectives, organizational objectives, and social objectives. (1) This definition clearly demonstrates the four contributing disciplines within the Organizational Behavior field, which consist of Psychology, Social Psychology, Sociology, and Anthropology.

Brief History

OB traces its roots back to Max Weber, a sociologist, and earlier. After the First World War, however, the focus of organizational studies shifted to analysis of how human factors and psychology affected organizations, a transformation propelled by the identification of the Hawthorne Effect (Social Psychology). The influence of psychology and social psychology on OB was through this Human Relations Movement focused on teams, motivation, and the actualization of the goals of individuals within organizations. Prominent early scholars included Chester Barnard, Henri Fayol, Mary Parker Follett, Frederick Herzberg, Abraham Maslow, David McClelland, and Victor Vroom (2)

OB again took a shift during the Second World War e.g. as the invention ...

Solution Summary

This solution discusses the history of the Organizational Behavior field e.g. psychology, social psychology, sociology and anthropology.